Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Plant Life, by H. H. Gran
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especially when the slope faces the south. The deciduous trees
are here abundantly represented as well as the conifers, and on
the hills are numerous herbaceous perennial plants, which
sometimes grow to the height of a man. The fronds of ferns such as
Struthopteris germanica, Asplenium filix femina, Polystichum filix
mas and spinulosum, form large, light green patches, while among
them is found Campanula latifolia, with its long spikes of large,
pale blue bells, and many other tall flowering plants with large
green leaves (Aconitum septentrionale, Mulgedium alpinum and
Crepis paludosa).
A few tall forest grasses with large flat leaves (Milium effusum,
Festuca silvatica, Calamagrostis) are also characteristic plants in
these luxuriant slopes, where the perennial plants grow so tall in the
summer that it is often difficult to make ones way through
them.
Above the limit of the conifers (about 2600 feet), there is a
region where the birch (Betula odorata) is the only forest tree,
though rowan-tree and bird-cherry are sometimes found here and
there among them. The birch zone reaches to 3000 or 3500 feet
above the sea. Its vegetation gives a richer impression than that
of the conifer forests, for the birches stand farther apart, and
allow more light to penetrate to the ground, than do the conifers.
On the warmest slopes, vegetation may be very luxuriant. We
here find, to some extent, some of the plants that grow lower
down, e. g. Aconitum septentrionale, Geranium silvaticum; but on
the other hand, the true mountain plants now begin to assert
themselves. The plants characteristic of the birch slopes are the
tall white ranunculus (Ranunculus aconitifolius) and the
large-flowered [[** sjk bindestrek]] forget-me-not (Myosotis silvatica).
Above the birch limit, two zones of vegetation may still be
distinguished, viz. the willow zone and the lichen zone.
In the willow zone there are no trees, but frequently a dense
growth of bushes scarcely as high as a man. It is the dwarf
birch (Betula nana) and species of willow (Salix glauca, lanata,
hastata, lapponum, phylicifolia) that give to the vegetation here its
character. In the first three species of Salix named, the leaves
are grey and hairy, while the last two have smooth, dark green
leaves.
In the lichen zone, the reindeer moss (Cladonia rangiferina)
predominates; what bushes there are, are creeping specimens, which
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